County tightens process to fund contract for services

$81,500 for community-based organizations

The Board of County Commissioners is closer to finalizing a new contract for services approach to funding community-based organizations. The commissioners discussed the new process, which replaces a granting process, at the 2012 budget work session on November 8. They allocated $81,500 of an available $85,000 to organizations that benefit the entire county.

The visitor centers at both ends of the valley will receive funding, with $12,000 going to the Gunnison Country Chamber of Commerce and $8,000 to the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte chamber. There was some discussion about giving the latter only $5,000 but commissioner Phil Chamberland asked that it be kept at the 2011 funding level of $8,000.
“I know we use this whole BOLT [Business and Occupational License Tax] for justification for not giving as much to this chamber as the Gunnison chamber,” Chamberland said.
“That, and the chamber in Gunny does activities for both Gunnison and Crested Butte, it’s the first point of entry and they talk about hiking in Crested Butte and CBMR in Crested Butte and all sorts of things in Crested Butte. They do double duty for both ends of the valley,” commissioner Paula Swenson added.
The commissioners also allocated funding for the Crested Butte Bartenders Association safe ride program, Safe Ride of Gunnison, Gunnison Hinsdale Youth Services, the Animal Welfare League, the Office for Resource Efficiency and Six Points.
A couple of additional organizations were identified for funding but garnered further discussion from the commissioners. Recent transitions at the Jubilee House, including a new director and some missed funding opportunities, caused some concern even as the commissioners wholeheartedly supported the organization’s mission.
“I’ve gotten a feeling that we really need to be specific about our contract requirements with Jubilee House,” said commissioner Hap Channell. “Their transition is making me want to dig deeper in several aspects, I would like to see their financial stability, I would like to see evidence of their advocates and counselor list, who is on that list and what kind of training they have… The walls buckled at Jubilee House with recent transitions and we need to be careful with taxpayer dollars….”
At county manager Matthew Birnie’s suggestion, the commissioners agreed that it would be prudent to include a request for audits and quarterly reports in a contract with Jubilee House, which was allocated $10,000.
 The commissioners also sought more clarity from the Center for Mental Health, which provides mental health services to the jail.
“There is some indication that their response to the sheriff’s office is not always what they want it to be… There should be some pretty clear performance expectations because this is one that provides service for the sheriff’s office and the jail,” said Birnie.
In addition to outlining clear expectations, the commissioners also talked about requesting further information on mental health trends in incarcerated populations. Channell in particular felt the issue of mental health in prisons is critical.

“This is really a concern of mine, the whole mental health issue societally…It’s been pretty much proven that the largest mental health facilities are jails or prisons, and I think we fall way short as a society in terms of rehabilitation services with regard to mental health,” Channell said.
“We lock people up without trying to figure out what’s the problem here…I want to make sure that we as a county support mental health to the point where they’re providing us real and meaningful services. I tried to look through their plan a little bit to see what exactly was going with incarcerated population and it didn’t get real specific,” he continued.
After allocating $81,500 in funding, the remaining $3,500 was transferred to the commissioners’ discretionary fund to respond to unanticipated requests throughout the year. A public hearing on the entire county budget will be held on December 6 at 7:30 p.m.